Review - 3 downtown Wilmington takeout spots

Tuesday

Jul 29, 2014 at 8:48 AM

If you're out and about but don't feel like a sit-down meal, three new eateries offer eats to go.

By Jason FryeStarNews Correspondent

Look around downtown Wilmington any day during the summer and you'll see crowded sidewalks and full riverside benches. If you're out and about but don't feel like a sit-down meal, three new eateries offer eats to go. Mega Maki SushiHelmed by co-owners Mark Scharaga (of the late Tamashii Spoons and Sushi) and Josh Thaxton, Mega Maki offers around a dozen rolls, including the Trippy Hippy (a vegetarian roll with pickled Japanese veggies), the signature Mega Maki (salmon, eel, cream cheese, scallions and avocado) and variations on the California roll.The sushi is reasonably good, and it's affordable. Rolls start at $5, and go up to $8 for signature rolls. It's convenient, too, if you're a downtown denizen or Downtown Sundown concert-goer, but on my visits I found the quality a little inconsistent. One time the rice was perfect, then under-seasoned the next visit, then undercooked, then perfect again. The fish was all right, but not melt-in-your-mouth fresh.Maki, which is the familiar sushi roll cut into pieces, can be tough to eat on the go. You have to negotiate chopsticks, a foil packet of soy sauce and that ball of wasabi. If you're not taking your food home, try a hand roll, which looks like a sushi ice cream cone (appropriate, considering Mega Maki shares a space with locally made ice cream spot Velvet Freeze) and is perfect for on-the-go eating. A quick blast of soy sauce and you're off to the races. DETAILS10-B N. Front St., downtown WilmingtonFounded: 2014Hours: 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-midnight Friday, noon-8 p.m. SaturdayContact: 910-769-3922 or www.facebook.com/MegaMakiILMHappy BowlsSome people – myself included – have mistaken Happy Bowls for another frozen yogurt shop, but it's not. Rather, it's health food that incorporates the ašai berry craze of the last few years. Frozen, pulverized ašai berries are turned into a bowl of delicious, filling food that's part dessert, part meal. With a texture somewhere between sorbet and over-frozen soft-serve froyo, the concoction can be topped with fresh juice, peanut butter, chia seeds, coconut flakes and other healthy-ish options. It comes served in a cute little bowl, and you can eat it at one of two high-top tables inside the store, or you can get it to go. There are only six bowls and five smoothies on the menu, and though all of them build off the ašai base, they're all quite different. The Crystal Pier Bowl mixes the berry base with pineapple and is topped with granola, coconut, strawberry and banana. It's a little tart, not overwhelmingly sweet, and between the coconut and granola, has a little bit of a chew to it. The Classic PB&J Bowl, which adds peanut butter to the base and is topped with fresh fruit, tastes very different. The peanut butter is up front and is balanced by the slightly sweet ašai. Most surprising is how filling these bowls are. After eating a bowl for lunch, I had no snacks in the afternoon and, come dinner time, I wasn't as hungry as usual.Happy Bowls' smoothies are equally flavorful and filling, with ingredients similar to the bowls. DETAILS21-B N. Front St., WilmingtonFounded: 2014Hours: 9 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 9 a.m.-9 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. SundayContact: 910-769-2828 or www.facebook.com/HappyBowlsWilmy

Peppered CupcakeThe Peppered Cupcake offers a small area for sitting and eating your cupcake like a civilized person, but if you're like me you'll probably eat half of it in a giant bite before you even walk out on the street. But it's OK. These cupcakes are delicious.Though a latecomer to Wilmington's world of cupcakes, owner Tabitha Meready is no stranger to baking. She's been at it since 2008, offering gourmet cupcakes in stores and restaurants in Kinston, Greenville, New Bern, Emerald Isle and Wilmington.Meready isn't afraid to take chances. Some flavors – like maple bacon, vanilla chai or bourbon pecan pie – aren't too adventurous, but she has bold flavors to challenge even the most jaded of cupcake eaters. Think wasabi, jalapeno strawberry shortcake and spicy margarita. Every cupcake I had was moist and flavorful, whether I ate it on the street, in the car or two hours later at my desk; the cake stayed moist, the flavors bright. The signature Peppered Cupcake fuses the sting of horseradish with a sweet preserve of some sort (mine was a citrus medley), tempered with vanilla cake and icing, then spiked with a little fresh-cracked pepper. You don't need to be an adventurous eater to brave horseradish and pepper in a dessert. They're used in such moderation as to add to rather than dominate the flavor, so it's a safe, and tasty, bet. THE PEPPERED CUPCAKE105 S. Front St., downtown WilmingtonFounded: 2008; storefront opened in 2014Hours: 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday, 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Wednesday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Friday-Saturday, noon-6 p.m. SundayContact: 910-399-1088 or www.ThePepperedCupcake.com